"The Islands of Langerhans" by E.M. Schorb

Woke once to
white-smocked aliens
their poetic rap
the crystaline
active principle of
the Islands of Langerhans
insulin
palm trees swaying
ukulele music
sarongs
Hollywood presents the
Islands of Langerhans
with Boris Karloff
as Langerhans
the mad scientist who invites
the alien pod people to land
and institutional footsteps
down the hollow hall
hollow footsteps down
hollow footsteps
in an echo chamber
Silver Hollows near the sea
ukulele music
on the crystaline
Islands of Langerhans
emerald islands
in a crystaline sea
in Oceanside in
Golden Land
Silver Hollows
in Golden Land
near the sea
where you can see
the Islands of Langerhans
in an echo
of crystaline footsteps
down a hollow hall
where white-smocked aliens
rap poetically
where you forgot to take
your insulin
you know you can go
into sugar shock or
insulin shock
if you don’t take care of
your only friend
and you like a kid
have to spend all day
at Disneyland
eating cake and candy
and swilling beer
unbalanced
Disneyland in Golden Land
Hollywood
sarongs
ukulele music
palm trees swaying
the Islands of Langerhans
their crystaline
active principle
poetic rap of the
white-smocked aliens
who took samples
of your blood
on a raised white table

The beach at Langerhans
is heavily fortified
and there’s a rough surf
many died
before they hit the beach
awarded the Purple Elvis
and the Flying Saucer
for the bullet plugged in
at the neck
and drove down
and out through the ribs
under the right arm
rapping he’ll be out of it
in a day or two
rebalance of sugar-insulin
treat as shock
then nothing but
the white-smocked aliens
who landed at Langerhans
I was afraid
when I saw them
they echo’d and echo’d
down the long hallways
a Silver Hollows sound
but they will transfer me
to a VA hospital
heard their crystaline
poetic rap
footsteps
echoing down
wasn’t afraid of God’s
musical castle
wasn’t afraid at all
because old was young
when we hit the beach
at Langerhans at
not Langerhans
at Normandy

Schorb’s most recent collection is Dates and Dreams—short fiction, prose poems, and cartoons—with an introduction by X.J. Kennedy. Last year, The New Formalist Press published Schorb’s Words in Passing, a selection of formal verse. His work has appeared frequently in Offcourse.